The present invention relates generally to the art of connectors and more particularly to an arrangement for airline passenger reading lamps that deters tampering by unqualified personnel.
Airlines and airplane manufacturers have attempted to please their passengers by providing passenger reading lamps. These lamps allow a passenger to fight an area in front of him while the passenger cabin lights have been dimmed, without disturbing neighboring passengers. The light is sufficient to allow the passenger to read.
A problem inherent in the provision of reading lamps is the maintenance of the lamps. Lamp bulbs burnout and require replacement. Airlines desire a method that makes it easy for maintenance personnel to remove and replace the lamp, while not readily removable by children or other passengers. Attempts at solving this problem have ranged from the provision of a specialized tool to remove the lamp to an extremely simple method of removal. The specialized tool approach risks a loss of the tool that completely bars replacement of the lamp until another tool is found. The simple manual method allows a simple method of removal for not only the airline employee but also passengers, such as children. A need exists to provide a reading lamp that prevents tampering yet allows for easy lamp replacement by qualified personnel.
The present invention provides an assembly that may be used with a reading lamp to make it tamper resistant, yet does not require the use of tools. In one embodiment, a bezel of the present invention is designed to snap and lock into a housing assembly by using preferably four molded tabs on a bezel retainer that locks or is similarly secured into slots molded into the lamp housing. The bezel retainer is maintained in position, preferably by a wave spring washer mounted in the housing. The spring has tabs that snap into premolded detents on the top of the bezel retainer.
The bezel rotates freely to prevent the removal of the bezel assembly by unauthorized personnel. The method of removal of the bezel assembly for relamping is not obvious to those having no prior experience with the invention and thus reduces or eliminates tampering.
Removal of the bezel assembly may be accomplished by grasping and squeezing the bezel and bezel retainer with a thumb and forefinger. The bezel assembly is then rotated to disconnect the spring tabs from the bezel retainer detents and to remove the tabs from the slots. Installation is simply the reverse of this procedure.
It is to be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to use only on airline reading lamps. The present invention may be used in countless applications where a tamper resistant means of connecting is needed. As an example, tamper resistant containers for pharmaceutical products are quite popular and the present invention is useful in connecting the top of a container to the container receptacle. In this application the top or lid of the container is configured and analogously to the bezel, while the container receptacle is configured analogously to the bezel retainer.
Other principal features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description, claims and drawings.